Cornelius Doctor Pens New Thriller

By Jon Show – A local doctor has branched into the literary world with her debut novel, a thriller about genetics and the promise of eternal youth.

Dr. Minni Saluja, owner of Saluja Cosmetic and Laser Center in Cornelius, is board-certified and has advanced training in cosmetic skin treatments. She wrote the biotech thriller set in the world of regenerative medicine.

“Cracking the Cosmetic Code” tells the story of Bela Arora, whose scientist father dies in India under suspicious circumstances. Bela moves to West Virginia for a scholarship program, bringing her father’s encrypted research journals, which contain his work on extending human life.

After college, Bela takes a job with a New York skincare company and comes to believe its technology is connected to her father’s research. She discovers the company is hiding a research project that could affect more than aging, and the story follows her efforts to decode a warning her father left behind before his work can be misused.

Origin story

The novel is Saluja’s first book and took three and a half years to research, write and publish. The idea developed during her pursuit of a master’s degree in regenerative medicine at Wake Forest University, where she studied emerging technologies and scientific advances that could eventually influence cosmetic medicine.

Her original manuscript focused heavily on the science. After about 70 rejections from literary agents, one agent encouraged her to reshape it into a mystery with elements of romance, letting readers discover the science as the plot unfolded. Saluja spent another year revising, developing characters and working with an editor, producing what she estimates were 100 versions.

“It really is amazing how it’s almost like marble and you chisel away your story as you go,” she said.

Saluja, who was born and raised in the United States to immigrant parents from India, said the father-daughter relationship in the story is a tribute to her own father.

“It was kind of like an ode to my dad in a way, so I wanted it published because I wanted it kind of as a gift to him,” she said.

She was determined to see the book published, even if she had to do it herself. Kohler Books ultimately accepted the final version and published it in October.

Saluja was involved in every detail, including the design of the cover.

She said she was inspired by the concealed arrow in the FedEx logo, and asked the publisher to work the four DNA bases — A, C, T and G — into the design. The final cover was chosen through a public vote among four proposed designs.

On the shelf

The novel is available online through Amazon, Books-A-Million and Walmart. Saluja is pursuing placement in local bookstores and libraries and is promoting the book through social media and community events, including a planned reading at an event with women from the Cornelius area.

The project let her combine her professional interest in emerging science with storytelling, but she is unsure whether a second novel is in her future.

“Everybody’s got one book in them because so much of your life is in there,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve got two, though.”